Wednesday, July 17, 2024
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Sodom and Gomorrah is being imposed on citizens by allegedly representative governments

Note from the editor: The content of this article is the sole opinion of the writer, and it does represent the view and opinion of El Reportero newspaper. It is published to present an oposite view to current ideas. –Vale, Marvin Ramírez.

by Paul Craig Roberts

The collapse of Western civilization and its replacement with woke Satanism has proceeded so rapidly that not even I, who expected it, can keep up with it.

Stephen Karganovic writing in Global Research brings to our attention five of the many insane woke policies that have been implemented in Canada, California, and Great Britain. This is not a joke. This is very real:

  1. In order to maintain the fiction that in their attributes men and women are physiologically indistinguishable, the Canadian government has mandated the installation of tampon dispensers in men’s bathrooms. The empirical fact that men have no use for tampons is trumped by ideology, which dictates categorically that they do because it is dogmatically prescribed that men do menstruate and are furthermore able to give birth to babies. People who believe themselves to be something they are not, and claim that their subjective self-perception overrides reality, are politically empowered to cancel empirical observation and the conclusions reached by scientists who perform accurate, verifiable research.
  2. Also on the ideological reality chopping block is terminology that points to pre-woke, common sense notions about natural relations between human beings. “Mother” and “father, “expressions that allude to the manifestly different roles of parents in the process of conception and nurture of offspring, in the woke-controlled universe have been forcibly replaced by designations “parent no. 1” and “parent no. 2,” invented to hide those facts. Now the Methodist Church of Great Britain has gone a step farther, to label terms “husband” and “wife” offensive. Inspired by inclusivity, the technical rationale for this departure from normalcy is “to avoid making assumptions” that are not “the reality for many people.”
  3. The avant-garde state of California has passed a law that takes effect this year, AB 1084, requiring large retail stores to include gender neutral toy sections or face fines and other punishments. The new law will place an additional undue burden on retailers and will have the foreseeable economic impact of raising the price of toys generally for normal families and their children. Incidentally, it is anybody’s guess what the definition of gender neutral toys is and whether there is a market for such items. But in a parallel universe governed by ideological delusions these are inconsequential details.
  4. In Britain, the country where the novel 1984, which introduced the notion of thought crime, had been written, the first literal thought crime prosecutions have recently been instituted. Isabel Vaughan Spruce, Director of UK March for Life, so far has been cited by the police three times and taken to court for silently praying in front of abortion clinics. Readers should note that her arrests were triggered not by speech or conduct but for an “objectionable” activity that was purely mental. British authorities did not contest her right as a citizen (or royal subject, if you wish) to be in the public space where she was detained. Detention and prosecution were based entirely on their perception of what allegedly was going on in her mind, in the proximity of an abortion clinic, which the authorities considered might be provocative and perturbing to the consumers of the clinic’s services. Readers should be aware that in common law the concept of thought transgression does not exist and that so far the British Parliament has not given statutory expression to such an offence. Nevertheless, an actual person presumably endowed with human rights has been subjected to persecution for objectively unprovable thoughts in order to enforce a legally non-existent norm. But that is the new normal, the rules based order of woke jurisprudence now taking shape in the land that once prided itself on upholding the “rights of Englishmen,” no matter how eccentric. Even the KGB in the old days could not have made this up.
  5. Returning to avant-garde California, award-winning Glendale fifth-grade teacher Ray Shelton was suspended for refusing to acquiesce to male students who “identify” as girls stripping naked in front of female students in the girls’ changing room. For opposing the transgender agenda in his school Shelton lost his job. It made no difference that female students and their parents fully supported him and also vehemently objected to these aggressive displays of opposite sex nudity. Glendale happens to be a heavily Armenian suburb of Los Angeles and its overwhelmingly normal residents are unacculturated to progressive Western values. They reacted with consternation to the state-orchestrated sexualization of their children. Their protests, however, were to no avail. Shelton is now suing the state for damages. Good luck, in the judicial system of the deranged state of California.

If I may, I will tell you what this means. It means that everything previously considered normal, moral, legal, and totally defensible is now suspect, indefensible and criminalized.

The most massive coup in world history has been accomplished. No one in the West has any rights except those our woke conquerors approve, and they are the rights of the abnormal, the immoral, and the sexual perverted. Christians and adherents of Islam are regarded as terrorists against the Satanic order. If you don’t believe that male humans menstruate and can have babies, you are guilty of placing biological fact higher than woke ideology and are an enemy of the people.

The Average American, Englishman, French, German, Canadian, Australian citizen is too insouciant to have any understanding that his culture and moral values have been replaced by those of Sodom and Gomorrah. Very few comprehend that normal beliefs and behavior have been criminalized.

I do not know if Putin’s Russia, Xi’s China, and Khamenei’s Iran are infected and placed on the road to evil by America’s woke ideology which has spread throughout the Western world.

Many of the “young leaders” have been incorporated into the World Economic Forum, a collection of world elites who profess that the human population, like cattle, must be culled if the planet is to survive. But Serbia has succumbed. Karganovic reports that “as of April of this year, on pain of heavy penalties, in all gender related matters Serbs will be required to mimic their collective West models.

The educational system, including textbooks, and all public sector communication will be reorganized to reflect the newly mandated guidelines. The imposition of gender sensitive language, including pronouns, ranks high on this agenda. Serbian parents will be obliged to conform willingly to the whims of their soon to be brainwashed children, acquiesce to gender transition hormone treatments for their youngsters, and to strictly observe the pronoun regime that will be demanded of them. Resistance will result in steep fines and prison sentences and in their offspring being forcibly removed from parental custody to be placed in government-approved foster care.”

In Scotland an almost identical law, providing for up to seven years in prison for recalcitrant parents who refuse to accept their children identifying as transgender is in the legislative pipeline.

Karganovic makes it clear that allegedly representative governments are imposing on citizens “compulsory denial of the evidence of one’s senses and obligatory surrender to repugnant nonsense.” The woke satanists have a complete “blueprint for the crushing of the human spirit, leading ultimately to its total subjugation.”

Community leaders call for more housing to combat rising poverty

by Suzanne Potter

January is National Poverty in America Awareness Month and community action agencies across the state are working to change lives for the 5 million Californians who cannot afford the basics.

The poverty rate in the Golden State rose from 11.7 percent in fall 2021 to 13.2 percent in the first quarter of 2023.

David Knight, executive director of the California Community Action Program Association, said circumstances have been difficult.

“What we’ve seen is a tick back up in poverty as both the cost of living has risen, right at the same time that a lot of the resources are starting to shrink back to pre-pandemic levels,” Knight explained.

Community action programs use block grants to help people who live at or near the poverty line, which is about $20,000 a year for a single parent and child.

Lawren Ramos, community services program director for the Community Action Partnership of San Luis Obispo, said the lack of affordable housing is especially hard for older people on a fixed income.

“We have people who are staying in the shelter who found themselves in a situation where they rented a place for 25 years, and that place sold, and the new owner just raised the rent beyond their level of income,” Ramos observed. “They found themselves on the street.”

Community action programs in all 58 counties use block grants to fund a range of programs supporting low-income families. The effort began 60 years ago during the Johnson administration’s war on poverty.

Biz Steinberg, CEO of the Community Action Partnership of San Luis Obispo, sees reason for optimism.

“I wouldn’t still be doing this if I didn’t see change happening every day,” Steinberg noted. “Our little slogan is “Helping People, Changing Lives.” And that has never stopped. It is the most challenging work but the most rewarding.”

Misty Gattie-Blanco, director of sanctuary and support services for the Fresno Economic Opportunities Coalition, said the agency’s board of commissioners voted this week for a pilot program to provide $500 a month to families with children living below the poverty line.

“This guaranteed income could potentially help them from becoming homeless,” Gattie-Blanco pointed out. “It could pay for groceries or fuel, to help them focus on their family.”

Good-government groups speak out after fentanyl sent to CA elections office

The Justice Department is investigating after the Yuba County Elections Office north of Sacramento received an envelope with white powder testing positive for fentanyl.

Pro-democracy groups are calling out the latest attack on our election system and looking for ways to defuse the situation.

Jonathan Mehta Stein, executive director of California Common Cause, said while no one was hurt, the attempt to poison or kill an election worker is despicable.

“It’s to destabilize our elections and to scare the public servants who run them,” Mehta Stein pointed out. “And to make all of us more fearful of participating in our democracy.”

The FBI is investigating envelopes with suspicious substances, including fentanyl, mailed to election offices in five states in November. A study by the group Issue One last September found about 40 percent of chief local election officials in western states have left their positions since November 2020.

Mehta Stein blamed the rise in threats to election workers on the litany of false conspiracy theories claiming the 2020 election was rigged.

“We have to find a way to reach people who think elections are being stolen in America,” Mehta Stein stressed. “And verify for them that not only are their votes being counted, but that the United States and specifically California run some of the most secure elections in the world.”

No evidence has surfaced to back up claims of election interference sufficient to have changed the outcome in 2020. In one notorious case, former New York City Mayor Rudi Giuliani recently admitted in court he lied when he accused two Georgia election workers of tampering with votes. A jury awarded the two women $148 million.

Poll shows Xóchitl Gálvez gaining on Claudia Sheinbaum

Xóchitl Gálvez, de la coalición PAN-PRI-PRD (izquierda), ganó 2 puntos desde la encuesta de diciembre realizada por El Financiero, mientras que su rival Claudia Sheinbaum (derecha), del partido gobernante Morena, sigue a la cabeza con un 48 por ciento de apoyo. -- Xóchitl Gálvez of the PAN-PRI-PRD coalition (left) gained 2 points since the December poll conducted by El Financiero, while rival Claudia Sheinbaum (right) of the ruling Morena party remains in the lead with 48 percent support. (Cuartoscuro/MND)

by the El Reportero‘s wire services

Just over four months before voters go to the polls, the contest between Claudia Sheinbaum and Xóchitl Gálvez to become Mexico’s first female president is tightening, according to the results of a recent poll.

Sheinbaum, the candidate for an alliance led by the ruling Morena party, remains the heavy favorite to win the June 2 presidential election with 48 percent support among 1,000 Mexican adults polled by the El Financiero newspaper this month.

But support for the former Mexico City mayor declined four points compared to El Financiero’s December poll, while the percentage of respondents who said they would vote for Gálvez increased two points to 32 percent, leaving a gap of 16 points between the two women vying to succeed President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who is barred by the constitution from seeking reelection.

The gap in December was 22 points with Sheinbaum attracting 52 percent support and Gálvez, who will represent a three-party opposition alliance, backed by 30 percent of respondents.

The latest poll found 10 percent support for Citizens Movement (MC) party candidate Jorge Álvarez, who entered the race this month, with the remaining 10 percent of respondents indicating that they had not yet made up their minds about who they will vote for on June 2.

Almost one in five respondents — 18 percent — said they could change their mind about who they will support in the coming months, while 6 percent said they weren’t interested in voting.

The formal campaign period, during which the three presidential candidates will travel widely across Mexico and participate in three debates as they attempt to sell themselves to voters, commences March 1.

In addition to the presidency, around 20,000 federal, state and municipal positions will be up for grabs at the June 2 elections, which will be the largest in Mexican history.

At the federal level, citizens will elect 500 lawmakers to the Chamber of Deputies and 128 to the Senate.

Four in 10 poll respondents — 40 percent — told El Financiero they intended to support Morena in the Chamber of Deputies election, while 19 percent said they would vote for the National Action Party (PAN), which together with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) form the Strength and Heart for Mexico (Fuerza y Corazón por México) coalition led by Gálvez, a former senator.

Just over one in 10 respondents — 11 percent — said they would support MC in the lower house election, 10 percent expressed a preference for the PRI, 2 percent indicated they would back the PRD and 1 percent told El Financiero they would cast their ballots for the Labor Party (PT), an ally of Morena.

Combined support for Morena, the PT and the Ecological Green Party of Mexico — which together form the Let’s Keep Making History (Sigamos Haciendo Historia) alliance — was 41 percent, while that for the PAN-PRI-PRD bloc was 31 percent.

Morena and its allies currently have a majority in both houses of federal Congress, but not a supermajority that would allow them to make changes to the constitution without the support of opposition parties.

López Obrador, who has said he will send a range of constitutional reform proposals to the Congress next month, has urged citizens to not just support Morena’s presidential candidate on June 2, but also the ruling party’s congressional candidates in order to give the “Fourth Transformation” — the political movement he founded and which is now led by Sheinbaum — the qualified majority it needs to bring real change to Mexico.

With reports from El Financiero.

Wake up North America! The flood of Chinese investment is real

El presidente López Obrador se reunió personalmente con el presidente chino Xi Jinping por primera vez en noviembre; La inversión china en México está en aumento. -- President López Obrador met with Chinese President Xi Jinping for the first time in person in November; Chinese investment in Mexico is on the ascent. (AMLO/X)

President López Obrador met with Chinese President Xi Jinping for the first time in person in November; Chinese investment in Mexico is on the ascent

Travis Bembenek

One trend that we at Mexico News Daily are covering closely is the significant and accelerating amount of Chinese investment and its implications across multiple industries in Mexico.

Nearshoring trends are forcing companies across industries to “get more local”, and the Chinese are moving at the speed of light. The automotive industry is just the tip of the iceberg of Chinese investment coming to Mexico, and we have recently seen significant announcements from Chinese companies in industries as diverse as furniture, appliances, solar power plants, tires and construction equipment in just the past few months.

I have also written about this trend, and provided a basic framework on why it matters, and how to think about it.

Some recent news in the Mexican automotive industry should bring some urgency to the discussion.

Just a few days ago, we reported that sales of Chinese cars in Mexico were up 63 percent in 2023 and now represent nearly 20 percent of all cars sold in the country. This is a really big deal!

Also just days ago, another Chinese auto company announced a large investment in a new electric auto plant in northern Mexico.

Given that cars and auto parts make up the largest percentage of USMCA trade and are arguably the biggest success story of cross-border cooperation and integration of the agreement, the thought of such significant investment and growth of Chinese businesses into Mexico should be a major and concerning wake up call.

The Chinese investment up to this point has been primarily in the auto parts sector, but all indications are that car assembly plants will be coming soon to Mexico. Given the speed of investment and growth taking place, a few important questions should be considered.

How will other foreign car companies with investments in North America compete with the Chinese car companies? Will they begin to purchase more auto parts from newly localized Chinese companies in Mexico to stay competitive and disrupt their current supply chains?

This past year we saw a bitter strike between the UAW and the “Big 3” U.S. carmakers, which ended in significant increases in pay and benefits for workers. How will these companies that have plants in the U.S. and Canada be competitive with Chinese cars being made in Mexico?

Just this week, Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, said during the company’s quarterly earnings call that “if there are not trade barriers established, Chinese EV companies will pretty much demolish most other car companies in the world.”

How will politicians in the U.S., Canada and Mexico respond? Will the U.S. consider breaking or modifying the USMCA free trade agreement to raise tariffs on Chinese cars made in Mexico to protect American and Canadian UAW jobs? Will the U.S. and Canada allow Chinese cars made in Mexico to enter duty-free? Will Mexico somehow try to find a path to cater to both Chinese auto companies and U.S./Canadian politicians?

Mexico needs job creation and investment, but it is naive to imagine such significant Chinese investment will not cause serious relationship problems between Mexico and the U.S. and Canada in the future.

The USMCA leadership cannot let the issue of Chinese investment into Mexico set back or reverse a trade agreement that has done so much good for North America over the past three decades.

If politicians from all three countries don’t get out in front of this issue, and quickly, it’s hard to imagine it not causing serious trade issues and ultimately becoming a major political issue later in the year.

We need our leadership focused on making North American cooperation stronger and more comprehensive, not sidetracked and weakened by the disruption of Chinese investment. Understandably, the region has a lot of other major issues to manage right now, but this one is too important to ignore. Wake up North America!

Travis Bembenek is the CEO of Mexico News Daily and has been living, working or playing in Mexico for over 27 years.

Fighting substance abuse through care over criminalization

As a worsening opioid epidemic ranks among California’s most challenging crises, The Center at Sierra Health is reducing harm through care over criminalization

by Selen Ozturk

Ethnic Media Services

As a worsening opioid epidemic ranks among California’s most challenging crises, The Center at Sierra Health Foundation is reducing harm through care over criminalization.

At a Thursday, Jan. 18 briefing co-hosted by EMS and The Center on the occasion of its 10th anniversary, three leaders of the nonprofit’s grantees shared how they were innovating substance abuse prevention and advancing health equity throughout Northern California — from remote rural Inyo County, through the Central Valley, to Alameda County.

The Center and substance use prevention

In 2022, over 109,000 people in the U.S. lost their lives due to drug overdose, according to the CDC. Overdose is the leading cause of death for non-elderly Californians — “and these numbers are expected to increase,” said Kaying Hang, president of The Center at Sierra Health Foundation.

This epidemic is the result of 50 years of federal and state governments “responding to drug use with incarceration and extreme policing under the banner of a ‘war on drugs.’ Those from communities of color have been disproportionately harmed and stigmatized,” she continued. “However, the tide is turning. People who use drugs are not strangers but our neighbors, family members, friends… and we can give them a second chance by prioritizing care over criminalization.”

This care takes the form of partnership with community-based organizations to end California’s opioid epidemic through culturally specific services which address each community’s needs — including drug education, testing, harm reduction for drug users, recovery support and basic needs like food and hygiene.

“We believe that those who are closest to the harm are in the best position to determine what the solution is,” added Hang, “and our intention is to help people align with the best vision that they have of themselves.”

The myth of communities without futures

Small, heavily Latino and Filipino rural communities throughout the Central Valley like Poplar — “with over 5,000 people living in 700 dwellings that haven’t been developed for 50 years — are the most vulnerable, but least reached due to their size,” said Mari Perez-Ruiz, executive director of Central Valley Empowerment Alliance (CVEA). “For us, health access depends on fighting the narrative that our communities don’t have a future.”

https://youtu.be/4SNjp0Qd-po

Through CVEA’s Rural Health Equity Campaign, this future is youth-led.

“Pervasive drug abuse, especially fentanyl, is dire here,” said Perez-Ruiz. “Our communities are targeted by the cartels, and sometimes the parents here are using or selling drugs — so we opened LUPE (Leadership, Unity, Power, Empowerment Center) — a safe, gang-free, drug-free center for youth to come together, and have conversations with parents about trauma and harm reduction so they all see new possibilities for their lives.”

“In Poplar alone, only 3 percent of youth are expected to pursue higher education, yet all children in the district receive a free lunch due to living in poverty,” she added. “When so little is expected of them, we build community support by meeting people where they’re at … I see promise where others see no future.”

Native Americans and indigenous harm reduction

“Native Americans have some of the highest fatal overdose rates — not just in California, but nationwide,” said Arlene Brown, CEO of Crossroads Recovery Center and Skoden Native Harm Reduction Services in Inyo and Mono Counties, and a member of the Bishop Paiute Tribe in Inyo, where 17 percent of the population is Native American — though “our program is for everyone. As Natives, our core value is sharing that healing with others, and half of those we help are non-Native.”

“Since the dawn of colonization we’ve been the first victims of the war on drugs, so we seek to decolonize these services that were never built for us in the first place,” she explained.

These indigenized services include prayer tags on overdose reversal kits; in-language syringe exchange and HIV/Hepatitis C tests; distributing Narcan communitywide, including for elders who forget to take and children who accidentally take medications; and regular counseling for “spiritual, mental, physical and emotional wellness, treating the whole person and community as opposed to the Western model of care which treats isolated symptoms or parts of life.”

“We already know shaming our loved ones for substance abuse only pushes them further away,” said Brown. “Taking away those stigmatizing barriers to care — at Crossroads, we’ve saved over 80 lives — both heals our community and protects our culture.”

“Harm reduction is a spectrum”

“When we talk about harm reduction, we need to be more ambivalent: Not everybody who is in recovery is going to get to sobriety or want to,” said Braunz Courtney, Executive Director of the HIV Education Prevention Project of Alameda County (HEPPAC).

“Our goal is to meet each individual where they are geographically and, within their addiction, “where their goals are. It’s a spectrum from using drugs more safely, to abstaining completely.”

HEEPAC does this by hiring substance use navigators “with lived or living experience of recovery,” and by meeting our peers’ needs in the streets” he continued. “Recovery is not a bubble. Someone wanting to treat substance abuse is dealing with other health needs beyond the clinic like housing, food, hygiene and social interaction.”

In addition to a drop-in Oakland-based clinic, HEEPAC has mobile units and navigators providing these services alongside regular counseling, syringe exchanges, overdose education, HIV and Hep C testing, abscess wound care and Narcan carry-and-use training.

“It’s not about creating a ‘health home’ like Kaiser — you wouldn’t traditionally go there to get safe drug tools, or food, or have a frank conversation not only about what you don’t like about your drug use, but also what you do like,” Courtney said.

“For us,” he added, “It’s about creating homes wherever people are in need … We’re not here to tell you what to do. We’re navigators. Equitable health care means that those who access it tell us what they want, and we tell you how to get there. You’re the expert in your own life.”

Chef Diego Isunza Kahlo shows you Mexico through its gastronomy

Chef Diego Isunza

by Magdy Zara

Napa restaurant Compline in partnership with Frida Kahlo’s great-great-nephew, Chef Diego Isunza Kahlo, will be hosting an interactive dinner series called “24 Hours in Mexico City.”

For three consecutive nights, Chef Kahlo will present an 8-course menu called: his love letter to Mexico City, remember that Isunza Kahlo was born in the gastronomic capital of Mexico City.

Kahlo is known for being one of Mexico’s most creative culinary talents, and he brings this gastronomic mecca, his hometown, through an 8-course tasting. Guests will take a tour of the vibrant neighborhoods of Mexico City, tasting unique dishes from each.

This innovative interactive dinner will take place from Thursday, Feb. 8 to Saturday, Feb. 10, after 5 p.m., at Napa’s Compline Restaurant, which is located at 1300 1st St, Ste 312, Napa.

Tickets cost $125/person. A $25 deposit is required to reserve.

Mardi Gras Party starting the San Francisco Carnival

This year the San Francisco Carnival reaches its 46th anniversary, and the organizers for this edition have decided as a theme to honor indigenous roots.

The SF Carnival is made up of several events, and this can be an opportunity to get to know your neighbors and you can also enjoy live samba drumming, dance performances and lively music, from soca to cumbia and rumba.

You can wear costumes, masks and beads and join us to celebrate Fat Tuesday in true San Francisco Carnival style.

The appointment is next Tuesday, Feb. 13, between 5 and 10 p.m., in the Mission District, San Francisco, including: Bissap Baobab SF; Arcana; Kimbara Rhythm and Flavor; Cha Cha Cha; and at the BART plaza on 24th Street with music, dancing and carnival festivities. Entrance is free.

Alejandro Meola presents his new record production “Vivo”

Alejandro Meola is an Argentine-American singer-songwriter and guitarist based in New York since 2013 and will soon be presenting his new album “VIVO” in the San Francisco Bay.

Alejandro Meola

Following the guitar and voice format of “Electro Folk”, the singer-songwriter celebrates more than a decade of career by reinterpreting his old songs.

Meola was born in Miami and grew up in the city of Buenos Aires. With roots in Rock/Blues, the singer-songwriter has recorded a prolific and eclectic repertoire that led him to play in different cities in the United States and Europe and will soon be performing in California, Texas and for the first time in Mexico.

The concert will be on Friday, Feb. 16, at Longboard Live, located at 180 Eureka Sq, Pacifica. Starting at 8 p.m., tickets are $20.

BREAKING: Argentina’s Javier Milei denounces ‘bloody abortion agenda’ at 2024 Davos summit

Jorge Milei, president of Argentina speaking at the World Economic Forum 2024, in Davos, Italy. --Jorge Milei, presidente de Argentina hablando en el Foro Económico Mundial 2024, en Davos, Italia.

Argentina’s president Javier Milei told the World Economic Forum’s Davos summit that socialists are promoting population control and ‘the bloody abortion agenda’ since, they believe, human beings ‘damage the planet’

by Andreas Wailzer

Wed Jan 17, 2024 – DAVOS, Switzerland (LifeSiteNews) — Argentine President Javier Milei has called out population control and the “bloody abortion agenda” during his speech at the World Economic Forum (WEF).

During his special address, Milei said that “another conflict presented by socialists is that of humans against nature, claiming that we human beings damage the planet which should be protected at all cost even going as far as advocating for population control mechanism or the bloody abortion agenda.”

“Unfortunately, these harmful ideas have taken a stronghold in our society. Neo-Marxists have managed to co-opt the common sense of the Western world, and this they have achieved by appropriating the media, culture, universities, and also international organizations. The latter case is the most serious one probably because these are institutions that have an enormous influence on the political and economic decisions of the countries that make up the multilateral organizations.”

“Fortunately, there are more and more of us who are daring to make our voices heard because we are seeing that if we don’t truly and decisively fight against these ideas, the only possible fate for us is to have increasing levels of state regulations, socialism, poverty, and less freedom and therefore having worse standards of living,” the Argentine President stated.

In his speech, the libertarian President offered a general critique of socialism and “collectivist ideas” and promoted capitalism as the only viable system that leads to prosperity.

“Today I’m here to tell you that the Western World is in danger, and it is in danger because those who are supposed to defend the values of the West are co-opted by a vision of the world that…leads to socialism and thereby to poverty,” he stated at the beginning of his talk.

“Unfortunately, in recent decades, motivated by some well-meaning individuals willing to help others, and others motivated by the wish to belong to a privileged caste, the main leaders of the Western World have abandoned the model of freedom for different versions of what we call collectivism.”

Milei described how socialists turned away from class struggle and instead applied Marxist ideas to other areas of life.

“Given the dismal failure of collectivist models and the undeniable advances in the Free World, socialists were forced to change their agenda,” he said. “They left behind class struggle based on the economic system and replaced this with other supposed conflicts which are just as harmful to life as a community and to economic growth.”

“The first of these new battles was the ridiculous and unnatural fight between man and women,” he stated. “Libertarianism already provides for equality of the sexes. The cornerstone of a creed said that all humans are created equal, that we all have the same unalienable right granted by the creator, including life, freedom, and ownership [property].”

“All of this radical feminist agenda has led to greater state intervention, to hinder the economic process, giving a job to bureaucrats who have not contributed anything to society; examples are Ministry of Women or international organizations devoted to promoting this agenda.”

Milei furthermore said that “today states don’t need to control the means of production to control every aspect of the lives of individuals. With tools such as printing money, debt, subsidies, controlling the interest rate, price controls, and regulations to correct the so-called market failure, they can control the lives and fates of millions of individuals.”

Noboa affirms that Ecuador will receive an “aid package” from the US to combat organized crime

El presidente de Ecuador, Daniel Noboa

The president assured that the commander of the US Southern Command will visit the South American country with a delegation to contact the Armed Forces and the Police

by the El Reportero wire service via RT

The president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, assured this Tuesday that the US authorities are willing to collaborate in their “war” against crime, which was declared last week by the Ecuadorian Government.

As stated by the president in an interview with CNN, the commander of the US Southern Command, Laura Richardson, will visit the South American country in the coming days along with a delegation to contact the local Armed Forces and Police, although it has not been confirmed. still the date.

“We still do not have a clear idea of the aid package that there will be, we have to discuss it because there are needs to maintain this war and needs for economic stability,” acknowledged the head of state, who has sent a series of documents to the National Assembly. economic emergency laws to solve the confrontation with organized crime.

“I would gladly accept US cooperation. We need equipment, we need weapons, we need intelligence and I think this is a global problem. It is not just in Ecuador, this is a problem that goes beyond borders,” said Noboa. before the journalist Christiane Amanpour.

According to the president, “around 35, 40 percent of the drugs that leave Ecuador go to the United States and another similar percentage to Europe.” In this regard, he pointed out that the issue should be treated as a matter of “international” interest and “cooperation” sought.

Maduro’s warning

For his part, the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, warned his Ecuadorian counterpart on Monday about the dangerous actions of the US Southern Command, if it allows the US military to take control of the Ecuadorian security forces.

In his annual message from the Venezuelan National Assembly, Maduro denounced that Washington intends to “reestablish a military base,” an action that would mean “a violation of the sovereignty of South America” and that, furthermore, would not be a “solution.”

“President Noboa, if you want to have a security system and a penitentiary system, look for us, do not look for the Southern Command, what the Southern Command is going to do is interventionism, colonialism,” said the Venezuelan president.

How will 2024 elections affect diaspora?

With 2024 being the biggest election year in history, the role of diaspora is more crucial than ever

by Selen Ozturk

Jan 16, 2024 – With 2024 being the biggest election year in history — as over 70 countries with over four billion people send citizens to the polls — the role of diaspora is more crucial than ever.

At a Friday, January 12 Ethnic Media Services briefing, speakers discussed how AI and social media spread disinformation among diaspora groups, and shared how diaspora communities will engage with elections in their home lands of Mexico, India and Taiwan.

Diaspora and voting

“The right to vote is one of the main demands of diaspora populations” and their home countries have responded, said Kathleen Newland, Senior Fellow and Co-Founder of the Migration Policy Institute.

In 1980, only 21 countries enfranchised citizens abroad, whereas by 2020, 141 countries did — nearly three quarters of the countries in the world.

Diaspora voting varies dramatically. In some countries, like India and Taiwan, voters are required to physically return. In others, like the U.S., overseas voting is “hands-off” without outreach to diaspora, so that “people have to find out for themselves how to register,” explained Newland.

The electoral influence of diaspora depends not only upon the percentage of a country’s population living abroad and whether they can vote, but also upon whether these overseas voters actually exercise their right to vote, Newland added.

Misinformation through social media, AI

Misinformation from abroad could be as impactful for some elections as votes from abroad, said Dr. Rohit Chopra, Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at Santa Clara University.

Dr. Rohit Chopra, Professor of Communication, College of Arts & Sciences, Santa Clara University, discusses the global discourse that has arisen as a result of technology, and its influence on elections around the world.

In the context of elections, misinformation not only inserts a fake claim into public discourse, but also “muddies the difference between what is fake and what is true … with themes, say, like the ‘deep state’ or COVID conspiracies,” he explained, “or of strong pro-Modi sentiment combined with criticism of dissenters in the case of the Indian diaspora … It’s like the Wikipedia problem, where 80 percent may be very accurate, but we don’t know what 20 percent of it is false.”

As AI is increasingly weaponized to spread fake news, the companies and policies behind it are overwhelmingly U.S.-based — and so impact diaspora countries “like a trigger effect,” Chopra said, contributing to the rise of fake news globally.

This rise has coincided with a global increase in authoritarianism and a crisis of legitimacy for the media. Thus, even initiatives to criminalize fake news will involve serious concerns about the concentration of power.

“The political power of the diaspora is not limited to their voting power … we have to rethink the relationship between the state, technology, and the public globally,” Chopra added.

India

The Indian election is the largest by far this year, with about 900 million individuals registered to elect 543 members of Parliament across over 50 state parties through a million election booths between April and May, said Dr. Arvind Panagariya, Professor of Indian Political Economy at Columbia University.

Nevertheless, this parliamentary election is very much a presidential one, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi leading the Hindu nationalist BJP party with a 76 percent approval rating in recent polls.

Dr. Arvind Panagariya, Professor of Indian Political Economy at Columbia University, explains why the Indian diaspora is unlikely to have a significant impact on India’s upcoming election.

This popularity owes much to the fact that India has grown from the 10th to the fifth-largest — and fastest growing — world economy, with low levels of inflation and unemployment, and a drastically more efficient social benefits system since Modi’s rise nine years ago.

Given that during this time, Modi has developed a tech corridor in India and promoted intensive collaboration with tech overseas, an issue at the forefront of U.S. Indian diaspora interests is tech development, Panagariya explained.

Because Modi’s opposition — led by Mallikarjun Kharge of the center-left INC — is more fragmented than 2019, “it’s as though you’re voting for Modi or voting against Modi now,” Panagariya said, and “there’s a consensus” that he’ll win.

Mexico

Much is at stake in 2024, when Mexican voters will elect a new six-year president, all 500 Chamber of Deputies members and all 128 Senate members.

“We decide whether we want a continuation of the policies that we have had” under President Obrador, who won as an opposition party by a large margin and “transformed political life in Mexico by aiming to eradicate corruption … or we decide if we want to go back to the past,” said Dr. Diana Alarcón González, former chief advisor and international affairs coordinator for Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico City.

Dr. Diana Alarcón González, specialist on Mexico and former chief advisor and international affairs coordinator for Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico City, discusses Mexico’s historic upcoming election and the importance of the diaspora vote in 2024.

Currently, Claudia Sheinbaum — frontrunner of Obrador’s progressive populist  MORENA party — is leading polls with 60 percent support.

Although the Mexican diaspora, unlike the Indian one, can vote abroad, only 70,000 are registered to vote in June — a very small number, given that 30 to 40 million first, second and third-generation Mexicans (all of whom can register) live abroad, said González.

For comparison, 98 million are registered to vote in Mexico, and 11 million first-generation Mexicans live in the U.S.

Thus, said González, although the Mexican diaspora is large enough to influence electoral results, “our greatest challenge is to increase their participation.”

Taiwan

With a historic third consecutive party win of Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive (DPP) candidate Lai Ching-te on Saturday, Jan. 13, voters rebuffed mainland China by aligning themselves with the DPP-associated view of Taiwan as de facto independent.

This win will not only affect Taiwan’s relations with China but also with the U.S., especially given that “an official declaration of independence means Beijing’s military intervention and America’s involvement,” said Rong Xiaoqing, veteran reporter at Sing Tao Daily.

Rong Xiaoqing, veteran reporter, Sing Tao Daily (New York), gives an overview of Taiwan’s newly elected Democratic Progressive Party and what it means for Taiwan’s independence movement and relations with China.

Nevertheless, throughout his campaign, Lai stressed “that he is not pushing for independence, only allowing the people the option to choose it or not,” Xiaoqing continued

Despite the decisiveness of this victory, voting was hard for the diasporic people of Taiwan; only 4,000 of its 700,000 U.S.-resident citizens were registered in 2024. As remote voting isn’t allowed, and the DPP has opposed attempts to legalize it, “you not only have to go back to Taiwan to vote, but you have to go to the city or village where you were registered,” he explained.

This difficulty favors the DPP given that many Taiwanese families went overseas before the party was formed in 1986, and many now are businessmen and international students — and thus have ties with the older, Chinese nationalist KMT party.

“I hear many complaints from Taiwanese immigrants who can’t take a flight because they’re poor or elderly that their voting rights are impeded,” said Xiaoqing. Now that the DPP has won, “it’s difficult to predict how Beijing will react” — and how this diaspora will be affected.

Notice of Election San Mateo County

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the following measures will be put to a vote of the qualified voters of San Mateo County on Tuesday, March 5, 2024 in the Presidential Primary Election.

SCHOOL DISTRICT BILL INITIATIVES

JEFFERSON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DISTRICT

PARCEL TAX BILL INITIATIVE

MEASURE C (2/3 APPROVAL REQUIRED)

To maintain/improve quality elementary and middle school education, with local funding that the State cannot take; protect the core subjects of reading, writing, mathematics, science/technology; attract/retain high-quality teachers; and support students to read at grade level, should the Jefferson Elementary School District measure be adopted replacing the expiring measure with an annual $88/parcel tax, raising $1,640,000 annually, for 9 years, with independent supervision, an exemption for senior homeowners, and no money for administrators?

Yeah ________

No _________

PACIFICA SCHOOL DISTRICT

BOND LAW INITIATIVE

BILL G (55% APPROVAL REQUIRED)

To modernize outdated elementary schools with updated classrooms and science laboratories; build local affordable rental housing for the teacher and staff workforce; replace portable buildings, deteriorated heating/air conditioning systems; and ensure access for students with disabilities; Shall the Pacifica School District bill be adopted authorizing $70,000,000 in bonds at legal rates charging an estimated $30 for every $100,000 of estimated value generating an average of $4,400,000 annually while the bonds are outstanding, with annual audits, oversight independent, and have all funds remain with Pacifica?

Bonds—Yes ________

Bonds—No _________

SAN CARLOS SCHOOL DISTRICT

BOND LAW INITIATIVE

BILL H (55% APPROVAL REQUIRED)

To improve elementary and middle schools by repairing outdated classrooms, leaky roofs, heating, air conditioning, plumbing and electrical systems; modernizing science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics classrooms; and improving fire protection and safety and accessibility systems for students; Shall the San Carlos School District bill authorizing $176,000,000 in bonds at legal rates be adopted, charging approximately $30 per $100,000 of estimated value ($7,400,000 annually) while the bonds are outstanding, with citizen oversight/audits , none of the funds for administrator salaries, and that all funds be spent locally?

Bonds—Yes ________

Bonds—No _________

WOODSIDE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DISTRICT

BOND LAW INITIATIVE

BILL E (55% APPROVAL REQUIRED)

To repair Woodside Elementary School by fixing and replacing leaking roofs; changing outdated HVAC systems; repairing/stabilizing stream erosion; modernizing classrooms to comply with current standards; replacing/modernizing kindergarten classrooms; and acquiring, constructing and/or repairing classrooms, facilities, sites/equipment, shall the Woodside Elementary School District measure be adopted to authorize $36,000,000 in bonds at legal rates, charging approximately $30 per $100,000 of assessed valuation while Are the bonds in circulation (on average $2,400,000 annually), with citizen oversight, annual audits, local control, and that none of the funds go to administrators?

Bonds—Yes ________

Bonds—No _________

SPECIAL DISTRICTS BILL INITIATIVES

COUNTY SERVICE AREA #1

SPECIAL TAX LAW INITIATIVE

MEASURE B (2/3 APPROVAL REQUIRED)

Special Tax for Expanded Police Services and Structural Fire Protection Services. Shall the measure established in San Mateo County Resolution No. 080010 be adopted to continue the collection of an excise tax for four years at a maximum rate of $65 per parcel, raising up to approximately $90,000 per year, for expanded services? police and structural fire protection services in County Service Area No. 1?

Yeah ________

No _________

ALSO, NOTICE IS GIVEN that Vote by Mail (VBM) ballots, Vote Center ballots, and already marked provisional ballots from the Election to be held on Tuesday, March 5, 2024, will be counted at the location. which is indicated below:

County of San Mateo

Registration & Elections Division

40 Tower Road

San Mateo, CA 94402

ALSO, IT IS NOTIFIED that for said election the voting places will be open from 7:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. of the same day.

Dated:

/F/

Mark Church

Chief Election Official

and County Assessor-Clerk-Recorder

1/19/24

CNS-3773246#

El Reportero